Washington State has 107 hospitals, and they are all members of WSHA. For my first year as CEO, I committed that a member of the WSHA executive team would visit every hospital member that would have us. Since then, we’ve been all over the state, meeting with CEOs, leadership teams and boards. It’s been a terrific experience that we are now memorializing on a large map in the WSHA office.
Our goal has been primarily to listen. The association cannot effectively represent and serve WSHA members if we don’t spend time together. We’re also on the lookout for needs we can meet in the long and short term. For example, members wanted more on-the-ground assistance on patient quality, so now Jennifer Graves is dispatching our clinical directors to your care sites. Others wanted help creating a board compact, and we shared best practices. A number of members wanted to know more about the many ways to be politically engaged, so Chris Bandoli has been talking to boards and executives about the PAC and other points of connection. Those visits are also going on the map!
Those are fun problems to solve, but others are much more serious. All across Washington, health leaders are concerned about how to meet the substance abuse and mental health needs of their communities. This pain is shared across the state and the country, and the examples we hear are very helpful as we plan our strategy. We know a visit can’t solve every problem, but without connections to the administrators, nurses, doctors and other caregivers, we can’t be good advocates. Every conversation we have strengthens our commitment to improve access to high-quality health care in our state.
We are grateful for the time that our members give us, and we look forward to seeing you in the fall!
Sincerely,
Cassie Sauer
WSHA President & CEO
cassies@wsha.org
